Thursday, August, something or other, 1994

Dear Stephanie,

I’m bored. Bored, bored, bored. Well, not really. Just somewhat.

I felt like some ice cream, so I went into the kitchen to make some. I couldn’t find the recipe book, so I just kinda winged it. I didn’t measure anything. It’s in the freezer now. Hopefully, it’ll turn out okay.

Nathan came over today to ride Shelly. Before that, he registered at UM. It’s about time. School starts in less than a week.

Ben downloaded a neat game off of Trader John’s. It’s Laser Chase, that game that they played on motorcycles in the movie Tron. It’s fun because two people have to play it. You have to move around the screen, leaving a trail behind you, and neither of you can bump into the trails or the walls. The trick is to out maneuver your opponent into trapping him. The first day we first got it, Ben and I played it for about an hour. Then Mom and Ben played for a long time. Ben is easy to beat because he usually just ends up selfdestructing. But he’s getting better. Nathan’s good at it, but he usually ends up killing himself by taking inordinate risks.

I’ve been doing a typing job for Dad, the manual for the Sales Reps. We got a copy of the one they used at Star Song, and Dad’s going through and altering it specifically for Integrity. I finished up the first draft today, and Mom took it into the office. Dad was pretty impressed. Too bad he’s only paying me $25. It’s about 18 pages long so far, but there are still a couple of parts that are missing. Nathan said it looked more like a $35-40 job. But I don’t mind. I enjoy doing something creative around here.

Like cooking. Tonight I made a rather big meal: sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, squash casserole, and smoked turkey. “When are we going to eat?” Ben asked me as I got on the Neutral Zone. I told him we would as soon as Dad got home. “He’s not coming home till late,” he replied. “Didn’t you know that?”

So it was just the two of us and all that food. Oh, well. At least we’ll have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.

Yum. The ice cream is delicious.

Nathan was over last night, and we watched Home Improvement and Cristy. Later, we were all in the den together. Out of the blue, Dad asks,
“Joanna, where are you?”

“Right here, Dad.”

“No, where are you in the typing job?”

Later on, he went to bed but then came back out and stood in the doorway. “Do we have a cat?” he asked.

“Yeah, Dad, it lives over in the barn.”

“Okay, I was just wondering if we still had a cat. I hadn’t heard anyone talk about it for a while.”